Mike Ashworth

2️⃣ International business consultancy Deloitte reports that continued inaction will cost the world $178 trillion.

💷 But accelerating Net Zero will deliver a $43 trillion benefit.

www.deloitte.com/global/en/ab...

Badenoch’s anti-science rejection of Net Zero is a shameless move to stoke culture wars.

1️⃣ The Climate Change Committee has shown that investing in Net Zero will generate UK annual savings of almost £40bn every year by 2050, delivering lasting prosperity.

Other experts agree—here are just some: 🧵

A fly with dark maroon eyes, iridescent wings held out to the sides, a coppery colored thorax, and and abdomen with grey strips alternating with yellow and black patterned bands. It is standing on a leaf.

This is a flower fly, or hover fly. You can easily see two little barbell shaped nubbins protruding from its sides where the thorax meets the abdomen. Those are halteres, organs that evolved from hindwings. The fly uses them to sense orientation and direction while flying.
Guango Lodge, Ecuador

So, #FlydayFriday seems to be a thing. Well, I have to admit that I don't actually know if my contribution is/will become a fly but it has that look and I'm hoping @geoffwilkinson.bsky.social will be able to enlighten me. Found yesterday while fossicking in wet muddy leaf litter.

Close up of the head of a shore fly, Setacera aurata, with a broad white face covered in short dark hairs.

Happy #flydayfriday from the shore fly Setacera aurata with its rather splendid white and hairy face. From the side of a canal lock gate this week in East Yorkshire. #ento #ephydridae

Happy #FlydayFriday! Wasn't in the field today, but here's an archival shot of a Phaonia subventa larva—a predatory muscid—feeding on a Lauxaniid larva, a gentle saprophage of decaying organic matter. Scenes like this are happening right now in the winter leaf litter! 🍂 #ento #Muscidae #Lauxaniidae

Climate change threatens rare temperate rainforests Up to two thirds of the world’s temperate rainforests could fall victim to climate change by the year 2100 according to a new study by researchers at the University of Leeds.

“The UK has more potential for temperate rainforest restoration than anywhere else in the world… UK rainforests are resilient to low & medium amounts of future warming”

But rapid climate action needed to save other temp rainforests

Ace new research by Leeds Uni: www.leeds.ac.uk/research-32/...

I am giving an online talk on UK Oil beetles this Wednesday 20 November 2024 6 pm - all welcome to this free event www.southdevon-nl.org.uk/event/meet-t... and leading a night search for the beetles at Start Point on Friday 22 November www.southdevon-nl.org.uk/event/meet-t...

A male wasp standing on a leaf. He has long antennae, gold legs, a black and white body, and a black and white striped abdomen.

When I started learning macro photography I was very afraid of wasps. Learning about them taught me that there are literally thousands of species going about their day without ever bothering anyone. They're great and play a vital role in the world.
(Sphelodon phoxopteridis) Pennsylvania

Macrochis meditata

Bingo !!

First genitalia reference of the day!! Biology unknown but what a fly!!

Macrochis meditata
@dipteristsforum.bsky.social #DipteristsDay

Afternoon of the #DipteristsDay starts with Vladimir Blagoderov talking fossil flies. Over the last 10 years more larval finds have occurred which gives more hints to their biology

@dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Zoe Adams tries to unravel the mysteries that are Cecidomyiidae

At the moment very little of sequences in Bold have a name associated with them - in fact less that 0.01 of them!!

#DipteristsDay

Next up is Olga Sivell talking about Stomorhina lunata - it used to be considered a vagrant but since 2013 its numbers have been good (a shout out of thanks to all the recorders)

#DipteristsDay

The first #DipteristDay was held at the Natural History Museum, london 30 years ago.

These six phenominal dipterists were on the original list and are still going strong 🪰🪰🪰

entoLIVE entoLIVE webinars bring the latest invertebrate subjects to the wider public. Our expert speakers cover cutting edge science, the latest conservation efforts and the status of British invertebrates…

Have you heard of entoLIVE? It’s a series of free webinars that showcases the research of invertebrate researchers. 70 webinars to date!

We’re recruiting speakers for 2025 so get in touch if you’d like to present your work.

🧪 #entomology #research #science

biologicalrecording.co.uk/entolive/

Stomoxys flies (Diptera, Muscidae) are competent vectors of multiple livestock hemopathogens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.07.611962v1 Stomoxys flies are widely distributed and economically significant vectors of various livestock path

Stomoxys flies (Diptera, Muscidae) are competent vectors of multiple livestock hemopathogens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.07.611962v1

Phaonia rufiventris, East Devon woods last week. Not uncommon but a great looking fly #muscidae #houseflies #dipteraid #dipteraimaging

Flies numbers in the uk

Musca autumnalis

Mike Ashworth highlights the Muscidae and Fanniidea working group - check out the latest news letter in the Bulletin

Flies are good!

A poster entitled Identifying Booklice in Scottish Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums, by Jeanne Robinson, Joseph Jackson & Ashleigh Whiffin. It includes images of 5 species, labelled with key diagnostic characters.

It’s a booklouse! Looks like Liposcelis bostrycophilia. We made a poster on the species found in Scottish GLAM.

Polietes meridiana, a stonker of a Muscid. Radnorshire, May 2024 Dipterist's Forum Spring meeting. Still room for more sub-contracted ID work if anyone is overwhelmed with flies to determine! www.dipteraid.co.uk

Phyto discrepans female (Rhinophoridae). A woodlouse fly. Fairly nondescript and could probably be overlooked as a plain Muscid before noticing the wing venation. 23/8/2024 Topsham, Devon.

Dicyphus errans (Miridae). A predatory plant bug I always seem to find on garden Geraniums. 23/8/2024 Topsham, Devon.

Cryptocephalus pusillus (Chrysomelidae). A leaf beetle usually found on trees (many species); this one turned up on the side of the house - dispersing? 23/8/2024 Topsham, Devon.

Blaste quadrimaculata (Psocidae) I think. A barkfly usually found on walls with lichen. Said to be rare but likely very under-recorded. I found this in the bathroom. 23/8/2024 Topsham, Devon.

A few things from the garden yesterday. Names and more details in ALT texts.
#UKWildlife
#entomology
#insects

Empis femorata collected on the
Dipterists Forum spring meeting in Radnorshire from wet woodland at Llandrindod. Widespread and pretty much unmistakeable!

Great day out on Sat 17th Aug with #DevonFlyGroup incl @timworfolk.bsky.social at @rspb.bsky.social sites on the Exe estuary. Buff-tip caterpillars, gall on Thistle from Urophora cardui (Tephritidae), Speckled Bush Cricket, a young robin's pincushion on rose made by Diplolepsis rosae (Cynipidae)

Hello Bluesky people. Here's an exceptional fly face to start. The #Sciomyzidae snail-killing fly Coremacera marginata. A common fly at least in the south. #Diptera #Entomology

Not the usual look for Sciomyzidae; Tetanura pallidiventris from an East Devon mixed, damp, mossy woodland in June. Anyone needing Diptera ID services please let me know, capacity for large or small jobs. #dipteraid dipteraid.co.uk #flies #imaging #entomology

Macquartia grisea (Tachinidae) male. The larvae are parasitoids of Chrysomelid beetle larvae. Fairly widespread in southern Britain. Garden, 12 March 2024 Topsham, Devon.

Tephritis formosa (Tephritidae) male. The larvae feed in flower heads of sow-thistles, hawksbeards etc. Fairly common in southern Britain. On an alexanders leaf in the garden, 12 March 2024 Topsham.

Ceratinostoma ostiorum (Scathophagidae) male. A coastal 'dung fly' found on rocky shores, saltmarshes and estuaries around Britain. The larvae are found in rotting seaweed. I found this one on a wall by the estuary. 12 March 2024 Topsham, Devon.

Eudasyphora cyanella (Muscidae) female. An extremely common 'false greenbottle', found just about everywhere. Garden, 12 March 2024 Topsham, Devon.

A few flies today, mostly from the garden, most very common. Details in ALT texts.
#ukwildlife
#ento
#diptera

Lispocephala fuscitibia a special #Muscidae of New Forest valley mires. Added to the UK list by Steven Falk a few years ago. Not sure if it's been found outside the New Forest in the UK

Pilophorus cinnamopterus, a small bug, mostly black with brick red in the middle and some silvery-white stripes

Stopped to get some shopping on the way home this evening, and when I returned to the supermarket car-park this gorgeous bug was on the car roof - a new species for me! Pilophorus cinnamopterus, a mirid bug that is associated with Scots Pine. #ento #CarParkWildlife #UKwildlife